Safety-pin



(:No Model.)

W. B. GOLBATH. SAFETY PIN.

No. 578,390. Patented MarLQ, 1897.

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UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

WVILLIAM EDGAR COLBATH, OF WESTON, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO HIRAM IRA COLBATH, OF \VALWORTH, MICHIGAN.

SAFETY-PIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 578,390, dated March 9, 1897. Application filed April 9, 1896. Serial No. 586,852- (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, VVILLIAM EDGAR L- BATH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Weston, in the county of Lenawee and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Safety-Pin, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to safety-pins for surgical bandages and other uses where it is desirable to employ devices of this character to house or protect the point of the pin from injurious contact with the person, clothing, or other object. 7

One of the principal features is to so construct the pin that it can be applied to and removed from a bandage or fabric while the latter is under tension and without necessitating any loosening of the fabric or manipulation thereof with both hands to attain the of the same.

desired end, as is generally required by pins of this character heretofore commonly constructed.

A further object of the improvement is to utilize the fabric as a means for locking the pin against opening after it is once properly adjusted except at the will of the user, a certain manipulation being required to effect a release of the pin before the latter can be disengaged from the fabric.

Other objects and advantages are sought to be attained and will appear as the nature of the invention is unfolded and to this end reference is to be had to the following description and the accompanying drawings, in which corresponding and like parts are designated by the same reference-characters in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a safetypin constructed inaccordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a detail view thereof, showing the pin locked by means of the fabric to which it is applied. Fig. 3 is a top plan view Fig. 4 is a transverse section I on the line X X of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrow.

The pin will be manufactured in assorted sizes and will be formed of a single length of spring-wire of suitable gage, the wire being doubled upon itself at a suitable point in its length and bent to provide spring-coils 1 and parallel members 2 and 3. The coils 1 are disposed in a plane at right angles to the plane of the members 2 and 3 and are set wholly in front of a plane touching the rear sides of the members 2 and 3, so that the latter may touch the bandage or fabric without causing the rear side of the coils 1 to bear against the bandage to the inconvenience, discomfort, and annoyance of the patient or user. The coils 1 come. centrally between prolongations of the members 2 and 3 and are secured together by having the terminal portion of one extreme coil bent around the terminal portion 4 of the other extreme coil, the bend 5 being over, around, and beneath the terminal portion 4, whereby the member 2 is given a tendency toward the cross-brace 6. The end portion of the member 3 is bent at 7 toward the member 2, thence inward about parallel with the member 3, as shown at 8, thence at right angles to the plane of the members 2 and 3 and recurved, forming an eye or loop 9, and around and beneath the part 8, forming the cross-brace 6, and looped around the member 3 a short distance from the end '7, as shown at 10. The cross-brace 6 is about parallel with the end 7 and prevents the spreading of the free end of the part 8. The eye or loop 9 is on the same side of the pin as the coils 1, thereby leaving the rear side of the pin flat, so it can lie snugly against a bandage or other part without inflicting injury or causing any annoyance or discomfort. The member 2 is pointed and constitutes the pin proper, and its penetrating terminal comes close to the end piece 7 and bears against the inner sideof the part 8 and is limited in its movement in one direction by engaging with the cross-brace 6.

The loop or eye 9 is formed wholly within the cross-brace 6, that is, it occupies a position between the coils 1 and the part 6, and being at right angles to the plane of the members 2 and 3 it forms a shoe or runner to glide upon the bandage or fabric when thrusting the pin therein, the latter being held by the coils 1 and pressure being brought to bear upon the part 2 to cause its pointed extremity to enter the bandage or fabric to which it is desired to apply the pin.

When inserting the pin in the fabric, the

pin is turned so that its front side faces the fabric, and after the pin is in position it is given a half-turn to bringits front side away from the fabric, and it is moved to cause a portion of the fabric to come between the terminal part of the pin or member 2 and the base portion of the loop or eye 9, thereby formingalock, as shown most clearly in Fig. 2.

To remove the pin, it is given a half-turn to bring its front side opposite the fabric, it being necessary prior to this operation to move the pin longitudinally, so as to withdraw the fabric from between the base portion of the eye 9 and the pin, and after the latter has been reversed it can be easily disengaged by pressing upon the rear side of the pin or member 2 and at the same time pulling upon the pin in a direction to withdraw it from the fabric.

When the pinis interlocked with the fabric, as shown. in Fig. 2, the pin cannot be turned so as to bring its front side opposite the fabric, and to effect this result the pin must first be moved longitudinally to withdraw the fabric from between the pin and the adjacent portion of the loop.-

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1. In a safety-pin formed of a single length of spring-wire, the combination of approximately parallel members, one of the members having its terminal pointed, the other member having its end portion bent toward the pointed member, thence about parallel with the pointed member, thence into an eye at right angles to the plane of both members forming a runner and toward the member from which it first departed, forming a crossbrace in advance of the eye, and looped around the latter member, the pointed member engaging with the cross-brace and the inand having the terminal portion of one extreme coil bent about the terminal portion of the other extreme coil, substantially in the manner shown for the purpose described.

3. A new article of manufacture, a safetypin constructed from a single length of sp ringwire which is doubled upon itself, forming parallel members, one of the members being pointed and the other member having its end portion bent toward the pointed member, thence about parallel with the pointed member, thence into an eye or loop at right angles to the plane of both members and toward the member from which it first departed and looped therearound, and having a series of coils at the folded end disposed at right angles to the plane of the said members and to one side of the said plane and on a line passin g midway between the members, and having the terminal portion of one extreme coil bent around the terminal portion of the other extreme coil, substantially in the manner shown for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM EDGAR COLBATH.

Witnesses:

J. D. CUNNINGHAM, Mrs. W. E. COLBATH. 

